Department for Transport

Department for Transport: Social Media

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an estimate of its advertising spending across social media platforms in the UK in each of the last five years.

Mr John Hayes: Holding answer received on 21 November 2017



An analysis of social media spend was carried out by the Department and its executive agencies in 2016 for the previous three financial years. This includes the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and Vehicle Certification Agency. The total spend was £25,944 in 2013/14, £694,030 in 2014/15 and £1,405,078 in 2015/16. We estimate that providing figures for the other years would exceed the appropriate cost limit.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Social Services: Children

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of local authorities' budgets have been spent on children's services by (a) Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, (b) local authorities in the North East and (c) local authorities in England in each of the last five years.

Mr Marcus Jones: Annual expenditure data by each local authority for all services, including children’s services, are published on the Department’s website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing

Department for Communities and Local Government: Social Media

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people in his Department with responsibility for social media are employed on an (a) full and (b) part-time basis.

Mr Marcus Jones: The Department does not employ any full or part time members of staff with the sole responsibility for social media.

Community Relations: Religion

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2017 to Question 107852, on community relations: religion, what the criteria are for the allocation of funds to religious organisations.

Mr Marcus Jones: Integration funding is used to support work which brings communities together and promotes tolerance. Under section 70 (1) of the Charities Act 2006, a relevant Minister may give financial assistance to any charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institution in respect of any of the institution's activities which directly or indirectly benefit the whole or any part of England. Proposals from any organisations, including those with a significant faith element, are assessed on value for money, deliverability and feasibility, as well as the likely outcomes to be achieved.

Fire Prevention

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 2 November 2017 to Question 111169, on fire prevention, who in his Department is responsible for decisions on the publication of that correspondence.

Mr Marcus Jones: Such decisions are taken by Ministers.

Homelessness

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment has been made of the ability of local authorities to deliver their new duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.

Mr Marcus Jones: The Homelessness Reduction Act requires local authorities to carry out additional duties to prevent and relieve homelessness and to intervene earlier to prevent homelessness.The Government committed to fund the Act in line with the longstanding ‘new burdens’ doctrine. We announced funding of £61 million in January 2017 and, following further discussions with local authorities on the new duties, have provided an additional £11.7 million. This takes the total amount of new burdens funding to £72.7 million. We have committed to reviewing the implementation of the Act, including the resourcing of it and how it is working in practice, concluding no later than two years after commencement of the substantive clauses of the Act.The new Homelessness Advice and Support Team, drawn from local authorities and the homelessness sector, is providing support to local authorities implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act.We also fund the National Homelessness Advice Service to provide free training on the Homelessness Reduction Act.

Private Rented Housing: Homelessness

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect a national rent deposit guarantee scheme will have on homeless people's ability to access the private rented sector.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to de-risk the private rented sector to make it a more viable option for homeless people and vulnerable tenants.

Mr Marcus Jones: Mediated access schemes play an important role in enabling homeless people to access the private rented sector. That is why we have committed to providing £20 million of funding for schemes that will enable better access to new tenancies or support in sustaining existing tenancies for those who are, or at risk, of homelessness or rough sleeping.

Housing Infrastructure Fund

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much and what proportion of the housing infrastructure fund will be allocated to the (i) marginal viability and (ii) forward funding funds.

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to ensure an equal distribution of Housing Infrastructure Fund for each region of England.

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether a bid for the Housing Infrastructure Fund that has been ranked lower by a local authority than a bid that is ineligible or has been rejected will still be considered.

Alok Sharma: The £2.3 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund, extended by an additional £2.7 billion at Autumn Budget 2017, will unlock homes in areas of greatest housing need. It is an open and competitive fund, available for all local authorities to put forward their ambitious plans for housing growth.We want the Housing Infrastructure Fund to support the delivery of as many homes as possible. Therefore, we are not prescribing the final split between the two funding streams, or pre-determining the distribution of funding according to region. We are currently assessing bids from local authorities. However, if higher ranked local authority bids are ineligible or have been rejected, we will consider the local authorities lower ranked bids.

Change of Use: North West

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of converting former mills and factories in Greater Manchester and Lancashire into (a) affordable housing, (b) offices and (c) public buildings.

Alok Sharma: National planning policy promotes the effective reuse of land and buildings to support local economies, deliver housing and maintain heritage assets.Local planning authorities are best placed to make decisions on planning proposals, taking into account policies in their plans, national planning policy and other material considerations.

Housing

Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to publish his Department's response to the consultation on Houses in multiple occupation and residential property licensing reforms, which closed on 12 December 2016.

Alok Sharma: I refer the Hon Member for Canterbury to my answer to Question UIN 113129 on 20 November 2017.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Nuclear Power: Skilled Workers

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 30 October 2017 to Question 109395, what steps the Nuclear Skills Strategy Group is taking to ensure that the nuclear industry has access to the skills it needs.

Richard Harrington: The Nuclear Skills Strategy Group (NSSG) conducts, as part of its activities, a labour market intelligence gathering exercise across the sector to produce an annual Nuclear Workforce Assessment (NWA), which identifies the sector’s demand requirements for the next 20 years. The latest NWA was published in July and sets out the inflow rate and types of skills required to inform employers in their recruitment practices. The NSSG also uses this information to update its action plan and ensure the right interventions are put in place for the sector to have access to the skills it needs. The NSSG’s strategic plan was published on 1 December 2016 and regular meetings revisit the strategy and its delivery to ensure it remains up to date.

Carbon Capture and Storage: North East

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has any plans to develop carbon capture and storage projects in the North East.

Claire Perry: Carbon capture usage & storage (CCUS) has huge potential to decarbonise the economy and maximise economic opportunities for the UK. We have reaffirmed a commitment to deploy CCUS in the UK subject to its costs coming down sufficiently, investing up to a £100 million in leading edge CCUS and industrial energy innovation.I welcome the work undertaken by the Teesside Collective on the potential for CCUS in the North East. As set out in the Clean Growth Strategy, published on 12 October 2017, Government will work with the ongoing initiatives in Teesside, Merseyside, South Wales and Grangemouth to test the potential for development of CCUS industrial decarbonisation clusters.

EURATOM Supply Agency

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans to enter a contract with the EURATOM Supply Agency after the UK leaves the EU.

Richard Harrington: The Government's stated objective in the forthcoming negotiations with the EU on our future relationship is to seek maximum continuity with Euratom, which is in the mutual interest of both parties. Those negotiations have not yet started, so the precise nature of that relationship, including with the Euratom Supply Agency, cannot be set out at this stage.

Housing: Construction

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2017 to Question 111705, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the level of financial support for small and medium-sized enterprise homebuilders.

Margot James: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has frequent discussions with my right hon. Friend the Chancellor on a range of matters, including access to finance for housebuilders. On 16 November I chaired a meeting with the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) and several of their members to explore the issues and opportunities in this area. This was attended by the trade body UK Finance, finance providers, the British Business Bank, the Homes and Communities Agency and representatives from HM Treasury and the Department for Communities and Local Government. Smaller housebuilders have a vital role to play in increasing both the quantity and diversity of housing supply. The most recent FMB survey shows that access to finance ranks second in the list of their members’ concerns (after land availability and ahead of planning) with 54% of members reporting that a lack of finance constrained their ability to build more homes. The Government is working with private-sector funders to support the sector in a number of ways. For example, the British Business Bank has recently (31 October) agreed an ENABLE guarantee with United Trust Bank. This deal is expected to unlock new investment of at least £500m by increasing the bank’s capacity to lend. The Homes and Communities Agency updated the meeting on progress with the Home Building Fund, which is on track to exceed its target of 25,000 new housing starts by advancing finance to smaller housebuilders on projects that do not meet the criteria for bank lending. There was also an update on the Housing Growth Partnership, a £100m fund set up in collaboration between the Government and Lloyds Banking Group, which invests directly alongside smaller housebuilders offering investments in the range of £0.5 million to £5 million for each project. These three examples of a loan guarantee, direct lending and equity investment illustrate themes that were agreed by all those attending the meeting: designing finance products that work for smaller housebuilders; maintaining the diversity of finance providers as well as types of finance; and collaboration between the public and private sectors.

Post Offices

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the number of post offices which have (a) closed, (b) been moved into co-location with another business and (c) reduced their level of available services in (i) west Yorkshire, (ii) Yorkshire and (iii) England since the privatisation of the Post Office.

Margot James: Post Office Limited – the company that manages the UK’s network of post office branches – has not been privatised and is wholly owned by Government. Today there are over 11,600 post office branches in the UK, the largest retail network in the country, and the number of branches has been at its most stable for decades.

Fuel Poverty: West Midlands

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the number of households in (a) Warley constituency and (b) Sandwell Borough which spent more than ten per cent of their income on fuel bills in each of the last five years.

Claire Perry: Data is only available at the regional level and is not broken down further to Local Authority or Parliamentary Constituency level.

Science: Research

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the UK maintains its position as a leader in research and innovation within the life sciences sector after the UK leaves the EU.

Joseph Johnson: This Government wants the UK to be the go-to place for researchers, innovators and investors across the world. We have made a landmark commitment to work with industry to boost spending on Research and Development (R&D) to 2.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027. The work could increase public and private R&D investment by as much as £80 billion over the next 10 years. This will start with government making an extra investment of £2.3 billion in 2021/22, raising total public investment in R&D to £12.5 billion that year alone. As part of our ambition for a new deep and special partnership with the EU, recognising our shared interest in maintaining and strengthening research collaboration, the UK will seek an agreement that promotes science and innovation across Europe now and in the future. This includes continued collaboration in vital sectors such as life sciences that, through programmes such as the Innovative Medicines Initiative, help deliver better care for patients in the UK, member states and around the world. While we remain a member of the EU, UK businesses and universities should continue to bid for competitive EU funds, and we will work with the Commission to ensure payment when funds are awarded. The Government will underwrite the payment of such awards, even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU. This includes awards that are bid for before exit that are successful after exit.

Post Offices

John Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many post offices were open in (a) Yorkshire and Humber, (b) the UK and (c) Bradford district in each year since 2010.

Margot James: The provision of post office branches is the responsibility of Post Office Limited. I have asked Paula Vennells, the Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the Hon Member on this matter and provide the information requested on the number of post offices open in Yorkshire and Humber, the UK and Bradford district since 2010. A copy of her reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.

Offshore Industry: North Sea

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many vessels currently chartered to work on projects in the decommissioning sector of the North Sea oil and gas industry are owned in (a) the UK, (b) the EEA, and (c) outside the EEA.

Richard Harrington: Oil and gas operators have a number of Decommissioning projects currently in execution in the UK Continental Shelf. In undertaking Decommissioning, companies typically use vessels in a number of areas, from supply vessels, diving support vessels through to vessels supporting plug and abandonment of wells and heavy lift vessels. However, as it is up to the operators to determine how best to undertake their decommissioning activity, BEIS does not collect information in regard to the type, number and ownership of vessels involved in this work.

Solar Power

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what (a) current policies (b) future plans he has to support investment in solar power.

Richard Harrington: Solar Power is a UK success story, with rapid deployment over the last 7 years. Latest figures indicate that we now have over 12.5GW of solar capacity installed in the UK, enough to power over 2.7 million homes and exceeding our historic projections. New solar power installations are currently supported by the Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) and Contracts for Difference (CfD) schemes. We want to see more people investing in solar without government support and are currently considering options for our approach to small scale low carbon generation beyond 2019, including solar PV, and will provide an update later this year. No decisions have yet been taken on future CfD allocation rounds for established technologies, including large scale solar PV.

Solar Power: Employment

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of people employed in the solar power industry in each year since May 2014

Richard Harrington: The Department has not made an estimate of the number of people employed in the UK solar power industry in the specified time period. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) produces datasets covering the low carbon and renewable energy economy, including estimates of the number of people employed on a full-time equivalent (FTE) basis in the UK solar photovoltaic sector, which can be viewed online at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/datasets/lowcarbonandrenewableenergyeconomyfirstestimatesdataset ONS estimates that in 2014 the UK solar photovoltaic sector supported 10,000 FTEs and 16,000 FTEs in 2015, with further jobs supported in the supply chain.

Energy

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to change his policies on energy as a result of the Energy and Climate Change Public Attitude Tracker, published in August 2017, and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The Department is committed to building robust, high quality evidence based policies. The BEIS Energy and Climate Change Public Attitudes Tracker is one of many evidence sources used to develop energy policy.

Solar Power

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reasons there are no proposals on solar power in the key policies and proposals listed on pages 12 to 16 of the Clean Growth Strategy.

Claire Perry: Solar power is a UK success story, with rapid deployment over the last 7 years. Latest figures indicate that we now have over 12.5GW of solar capacity installed in the UK, enough to power over 2.7 million homes and exceeding our historic projections. The Clean Growth Strategy notes that we are now beginning to see solar deploying without subsidy in the UK. Support for solar comes directly from people’s bills, so when costs come down, so should support. Therefore we took steps to control the costs of support schemes and put solar on a path to delivering without subsidy. We expect subsidy-free solar to be an increasingly attractive option, with the first subsidy-free UK solar farm recently deploying. Some of the UK’s largest solar developers have said that they will be installing and connecting subsidy-free sites over the next 12 months.

Fuel Poverty: North East

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households in (a) Redcar constituency (b) Redcar and Cleveland and (c) the North East spend more than 10 per cent of their income on fuel bills.

Claire Perry: In the North East, approximately 0.15 million households (13.3 per cent), spent more than 10 per cent of their full income on fuel bills. Data is only available at the regional level and is not broken down further to Local Authority or Parliamentary Constituency level.

Iron and Steel: Research

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to his Department's press release of 20 November 2017 on increasing spending on research and development, what assessment he has made of the level of such investment required in the steel sector; and what proportion of the funding announced is for the steel sector.

Joseph Johnson: We are committed to raising investment in research and development to 2.4% of GDP by 2027 as part of the Industrial Strategy. Research and innovation are central to productivity and economic growth, so we are investing an additional £2.3bn in R&D in 2021/22 to ensure that public investment continues to rise, reaching a total of approximately £12.5bn that year. In 2018, we will publish a roadmap that sets out how Government and industry will work together to reach the 2.4% target by 2027.In order to support the steel sector, understand the future opportunities that exist nationally and plan their investment decisions accordingly, BEIS has commissioned an independent Capability and Capacity study, the preliminary results of which have been shared with the sector.

Property: Ownership

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to require overseas companies owning property in the UK to declare publicly their beneficial owners.

Margot James: The responses to the call for evidence are currently being analysed and a response will be published in due course.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Postal Services

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what security measures his Department has in place relating to the receipt by his Department of incoming post and parcels; and what discussions he has had with the British Forces Post Office on providing such services.

Margot James: The Department has appropriate physical security measures to ensure a safe and secure working environment for staff. However, the Department does not provide specific details on the security measures it has in place.There has been no correspondence between my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the British Forces Postal Office on providing such services. Details of Ministers’ meetings with external organisations are published quarterly on the Gov.UK website:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-business-energy-and-industrial-strategy&publication_type=transparency-dataInformation for July – September 2017 will be published in due course.

Insolvency

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to publish a review on insolvency regulations.

Margot James: The Government continually monitors the UK’s world class insolvency regime to ensure that the legislation remains fit for purpose and forms part of the foundations of a strong economy in which access to credit is widely available for business and consumers. My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State, through the Insolvency Service, also acts as oversight regulator for the insolvency profession itself. The Insolvency Service will publish its next annual review of insolvency practitioner regulation in spring 2018. This publication provides detail of the regulation of the insolvency profession, including a review of activities undertaken by the Insolvency Service and action taken by regulators against their member insolvency practitioners.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Social Media

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many people in his Department with responsibility for social media are employed on an (a) full and (b) part-time basis.

Mark Field: ​The Foreign and Commonwealth Office encourages all staff to make full use of the opportunities provided by social media support the delivery of FCO objectives as outlined in FCO social media guidance published on GOV.UK.There is a small digital team In London whose roles include producing communications material for social media, providing consular assistance online, training and evaluation as well as other communications tasks.Overseas small digital hubs in five locations provide training and advice in effective use of social media as part of their work. Communication roles at Post, as well as those of Heads and Deputy Heads of Mission, and various operation roles will often have some responsibility for using social media as part of their work where using digital comms helps deliver our objectives.

Russia: Social Media

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Russia on social media propaganda targeted at the UK.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​The Russian authorities are well aware of our concerns, as set out by the Prime Minister on 13 November. I am travelling to Russia before the end of the year, where I will have the opportunity to raise this issues in person.

Burma: Rohingya

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Burmese counterpart on ethnic cleansing of Muslim refugees in Myanmar.

Mark Field: The Government is deeply concerned by the treatment of the Rohingya of Rakhine State, following the military's violent operation that prompted more than 600,000 Rohingya people to flee into Bangladesh. The Foreign Secretary has spoken to State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi three times since the start of the crisis, most recently on 21 October, to make clear this situation is completely unacceptable, and to call on her to resolve the crisis. The Minister for Asia and the Pacific pressed Burma's Defence Minister to ensure accountability for the perpetrators of human rights violations when they met on 20 November.

Burma: Rohingya

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Bangladesh on offering Muslim refugees fleeing Myanmar secured settlement.

Mark Field: ​The UK has consistently called on the Government of Bangladesh at official and Ministerial level to grant the Rohingya community in Bangladesh formal refugee status. The Minister for Asia and the Pacific raised this point when he met the Bangladesh High Commissioner Nazmul Quaunine and the B​angladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque on 2 November. He also visited Bangladesh on 27 and 28 September.

Conservative Friends of Israel

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many meetings he has had with representatives of the Conservative Friends of Israel since January 2017.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign Secretary has had no formal meetings with representatives of Conservative Friends of Israel in this period.​ The Foreign Secretary meets members and staff of Conservative Friends of Israel from time to time in the course of his normal business, as he does many other organisations.

Overseas Aid: Accountability

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he plans to take to improve the management, transparency and accountability of his Department's aid budget.

Sir Alan Duncan: All FCO programmes conform to the department’s robust management and assurance processes to ensure they deliver value for money for the UK taxpayer.

Iran: British Nationals Abroad

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department plans to update section 9 of its document entitled Doing Business with Iran to emphasise the specific risks of British dual nationals in travelling to that country.

Alistair Burt: ​The document in question is owned by the Department for International Trade. It is regularly reviewed and updated in consultation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). The current version makes clear that the Iranian Government does not recognise dual nationality and that the British Embassy will be unable to offer consular assistance to dual nationals if they encounter difficulties. In addition, section 9.4 of the document states that the guidance should be read in conjunction with the FCO travel advice. This travel advice clearly sets out the risks presented to dual nationals travelling to Iran.

Elections

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when his Department was made aware of Russian interference in UK elections.

Sir Alan Duncan: As the Prime Minister made clear in her Mansion House speech, Russia makes aggressive use of cyber capability to mount sustained campaigns of espionage and disruption. To date, we have not seen evidence of successful interference in UK elections. We take any allegations of interference in UK democratic processes by a foreign government extremely seriously.

Iran: Prisoners

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he intends to visit (a) Kamal Foroughi and (b) any other prisoner in Iran in addition to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe during his planned visit to that country.

Alistair Burt: ​The Foreign Secretary hopes to visit Iran later this year. While the itinerary for this is not yet confirmed, he will have a wide range of discussions, including on all our consular cases. Our Ambassador to Iran regularly requests consular access to our dual-national prisoners, not least so that we can check on their welfare. Iran considers these individuals to be Iranians under Iranian law and has therefore not granted the British Government access. Although there is no international legal obligation to recognise dual nationality, we consider them to be British and will continue to request access to them.

Iran: Prisoners

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Iranian counterpart on freedom of belief and expression in that country, including in the case of Mohammad Ali Taheri, when he visits Iran.

Alistair Burt: ​The Foreign Secretary hopes to visit Iran later this year where he will have discussions on a variety of topics, including on human rights issues. The human rights situation in Iran is of serious concern and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office continues to designate Iran as a human rights priority country. The case of Mohammad Ali Taheri is an example of how the Iranian authorities routinely deny their citizens the freedom to choose and practice their own religion or belief.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Video Games

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, when he plans to publish the findings of his Department's impact assessments relating to the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the UK video games industry.

Mr Robin Walker: The Department for Exiting the European Union, working with officials across government, continues to undertake a wide range of analysis to support progress in the negotiations. However, this analysis is not, and nor has it ever been, a series of impact assessments examining the quantitative impact of Brexit on each sector.The House has previously voted not to release information that would be prejudicial to our negotiating position. As the Written Ministerial Statement laid by the Department for Exiting the EU on 7 November made clear, it will take the Department, working with other departments, time to collate and bring together this information in a way that is accessible and informative for the Committee. The Government is committed to providing the information to the Committee as soon as is possible. As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement, we expect this to be no more than three weeks.

British Nationals Abroad: Switzerland

Sir Vince Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what his policy is on protecting the existing rights of British citizens residing in Switzerland after the UK leaves the EU.

Mr Robin Walker: The Government has been clear that safeguarding the rights of UK and EU citizens, including EEA and Swiss nationals, is our first priority in negotiations. The UK’s published policy paper, ‘Safeguarding the position of EU citizens in the UK and UK nationals in the EU’, set out our offer on citizens’ rights to the EU and stated that we would discuss similar arrangements with Switzerland and the non-EU EEA states of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein (collectively referred to as ‘the EFTA states’ in the publication). We have already commenced constructive official-level scoping talks with all four states on citizens' rights.

Legal Profession

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what the estimated cost to the public purse is of the additional lawyers who are being recruited to deal with the complexities of the work on the UK leaving the EU.

Mr Steve Baker: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North on 7 September 2017, UIN 7210. We do not hold information centrally about OGD’s use of lawyers.

EU Law

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, pursuant to the Answer of 2 November 2017 to Question 111141, on EU law, what assessment he has made of which elements of the EU's supranational framework will not be retained.

Mr Steve Baker: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill aims, so far as possible, to provide that the laws which apply immediately before exit day will continue to apply in the same way after we leave. The act of leaving the EU means that it is inevitable that some elements of the EU’s supranational legal framework will not - and should not - be retained.Clause 5 and the accompanying Schedule 1 set out a number of important exceptions to the general retention of EU law under the Bill. The provisions in this Clause and Schedule cover the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the principle of supremacy, challenges to the validity of an EU instrument, the general principles of EU law and Francovich damages.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Social Media

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many people in his Department with responsibility for social media are employed on an (a) full and (b) part-time basis.

Mr Steve Baker: The Department for Exiting the European Union does not centrally hold information on specific activities undertaken in a role. This information will be held locally within job descriptions and agreed workstreams. Accordingly, we are unable to provide a response.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Travel

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how much his Department has spent on flights for Ministers provided by RAF aircraft in each month from July 2016.

Mr Steve Baker: The Department does and will continue to provide transparency releases on gov.uk concerning the costs and details of ministerial transport on a regular basis. The Department for Exiting the European Union ensures that all travel options are considered for overseas visits to ensure value for money and efficient use of time. RAF aircraft have been available to senior ministers for many years.

Attorney General

Legal Profession: Voluntary Work

Jim Shannon: To ask the Attorney General, what steps he is taking to promote pro bono work by lawyers in large law firms.

Robert Buckland: As the Government’s pro bono champions, the Law Officers chair the pro bono panel and committee to bring together key players to steer and coordinate the overall work in this area. The Law Society is an important member of both and represents the views all solicitors, including large firms, at those meetings.The Attorney General officially launched the 16th National Pro Bono week at an event hosted by a large law firm, the Law Society and others. During pro bono week, and throughout the year, the Law Officers attend and support pro bono events across the country, to encourage and support the excellent work being done by the pro bono community.

Department for International Development

Iraq: Housing

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance her Department is giving to provide accommodation to replace homes that have been destroyed in Iraq.

Alistair Burt: UK support is helping to make areas affected by conflict safe, repair basic infrastructure and rebuild homes so that families who have been displaced by violence can return home safely and restart their lives.The UK provides funding to repair housing damaged during the conflict in Iraq through the UN’s Fund for Stabilization (FFS) mechanism. As well as focussing on housing, the FFS funds projects to rehabilitate critical infrastructure, restore basic services such as water and electricity and provide livelihood opportunities in recently liberated areas. The UK has provided £5.68 million to the FFS so far this year; this includes the £1.68 million announced by my department in September which has been specifically earmarked for the repair of over 1,000 homes in West Mosul.

Department for Education

Higher Education

Bim Afolami: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department's review of higher education will include part-time higher education and learning and earning.

Joseph Johnson: Studying part-time and later in life can bring enormous benefits for individuals, the economy and employers. That is why the Government has taken steps to help hardworking people who want to gain new skills and advance their careers by studying part-time. These measures include offering financial support in the form of loans to cover fees and, from 2018/19, maintenance costs. We have also enshrined in law the need for the new higher education sector regulator, the Office for Students, to have regard for part-time study. The government will set out further details of the review in due course.

Universities: Admissions

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children in need (a) applied to and (b) entered university in each year since 2015.

Joseph Johnson: We do not hold information in the requested format on the number of applications and entries into university by children in need.

Apprentices: Taxation

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the potential amount to be raised from the Apprenticeship Levy in each region in the next financial year.

Anne Milton: We do not have estimates on the amount of apprenticeship levy that will be raised in each region. However, it is estimated that in the 2018/19 financial year the levy will raise over £2.7 billion overall.

Adult Education: Finance

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how (a) many providers did not spend their full Adult Education Budget allocation and (b) much adult education funding went unspent in total in (i) 2014-15 and (ii) 2015-16.

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding was returned to her Department from  providers that did not spend their full adult education budget in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will set out the budget for adult skills (a) nationally and (b) in each region in (i) 2014-15 and (ii) 2015-16.

Anne Milton: Funding is allocated to providers in line with the funding year which runs from August to July. This means that each funding year spans two financial years. As a result, the following details are not directly comparable as they cover different time periods. The adult education budget did not exist in its current form until 2016/17. The figures below are for the non-apprenticeship adult skills budget, including community learning and discretionary learner support. In the 2014 to 2015 funding year, 596 of 784 providers with an allocation did not spend their allocation in full. It is of note that the value of this under-delivery represents only 4.5% of total funding allocated. In the 2015 to 2016 funding year, 551 of 762 providers did not spend their allocation in full. The value of this under-delivery represents only 3.5% of the total funding allocated. The Skills Funding Letter sets out the funding priorities and available budget for the further education and skills sector. There was no recorded underspend against the Skills Funding Letter budget of £1,855 million for the 2014 to 2015 financial year. For the 2015 to 2016 financial year, there was a £53 million under spend recorded against the Skills Funding Letter budget of £1,494 million. The Skills Funding Letter budget for the 2014 to 2015 financial year was for £1,855 million (as per Skills Funding Letter 2013-16). The final budget recorded by the Skills Funding Agency was for £1,789 million as agreed with the department. The Skills Funding Letter budget for the 2015 to 2016 financial year was for £1,494 million (including exceptional financial support, city deals, community learning, learner support). The final updated budget recorded by the Skills Funding Agency was for £1,462 million as agreed with the department. The budget was not allocated on a geographic basis so we are unable to provide the budget for each region.

Adult Education: Finance

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many civil servants in her Department are working solely on the devolution of the adult education budget (a) in total and (b) in each mayoral or combined authority.

Anne Milton: There are currently 7 civil servants in the department working solely on devolution of the Adult Education Budget with additional input and assistance from an additional number of people from across the department and the Education and Skills Funding Agency. It is the responsibility of each Mayoral Combined Authority and the Greater London Authority to determine their own level of resourcing.

Children: Day Care

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many 30-free hours of childcare eligibility codes have been generated for children whose first term of eligibility is the January term.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Department for Education is publishing management information relating to the rollout of 30 hours free childcare in monthly management information releases. These can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/30-hours-free-childcare-eligibility-codes-issued-and-validated.Information relating to 30 hours codes issued and validated for the spring term will be issued in a future management information release.

Ministry of Justice

Employment Tribunals Service: Linlithgow and East Falkirk

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many employment tribunal claimants there were in Linlithgow and East Falkirk constituency in the year (a) before and (b) after the introduction of tribunal fees.

Dominic Raab: Personal data for Employment Tribunal cases are archived 12 months after a case is concluded. Constituency-level data are only available showing claims accepted from October 2016 to June 2017. This is consistent with the published statistics. The table below shows the number of accepted claims in the East Falkirk and Linlithgow constituency from October 2016 to June 2017.  Accepted3 ClaimsAreaPeriodSinglesMultiplesTotalEast Falkirk2 and Linlithgow1October 2016 – June 2017173752 Claims accepted prior to the introduction of fees can be found in a regional breakdown, including Scotland, at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2017-and-2016-to-2017  Notes1 Linlithgow Constituency taken as accepted claims submitted within the postcode area EH492 East Falkirk Constituency taken as accepted claims submitted within the postcode area EH30, EH47 EH23 Accepted claims by constituency are extracted from the live ETHOS databases. Cases from the live data bases are archived 12 months after they are concluded and as such personalised data (constituency) are no longer available. Anonymised data at venue level are exported to the Central Office of the Industrial Tribunal (COIT) database.Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data available. The data may differ slightly to that of the published stats as this data was run on a different date.

Probation

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on probation in each of the last five years; and how much of that expenditure was allocated to (a) the National Probation Service and (b) community rehabilitation companies in each year since 2015.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Ministry of Justice spend on Probation Trusts, Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the National Probation Service (NPS) in each of the last five years across England & Wales is included below. Expenditure for Financial Years 2012-13 to 2016-17 (£m)2012-132013-142014-152015-162016-17Probation Trusts832.4804.5114.7n/an/aNPSn/an/a364.2440.0456.1CRCsn/an/a372.8528.7394.1Total832.4804.5851.7968.8850.2 To note within the table:Figures have been extracted from the published National Offender Management Service’s Annual Report and Accounts for each financial year, or restated/adjusted figures where appropriate. They also include some financial data that have been extracted from the relevant years’ Management Accounts records associated with the probation activities. However, for 2016-17 financial year, figures have been adjusted after the Accounts publication to reflect further reconciliation work on the actual outturn costs for NPS and CRCs.For financial year 2014-15, Probation Trust spend reflects the costs of delivering probation services for two months of operation to 31 May 2014.On 1 June 2014 responsibility for providing Probation services transferred from Probation Trusts to the new National Probation Service and the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies. This split for 2014-15 is described below: The figures for the NPS relate to the newly formed National Probation Service from 1 June 2014. The consolidated financial results from CRCs for the period 1 June 2014 to 31 January 2015 (whilst they were in public ownership) are included against CRCs. The figures for February and March 2015, following the transfer of these CRCs to new owners on 31 January 2015, are also included.4. Financial year 2015-16 includes transition and mobilisation costs associated with implementation of the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms.

Long Lartin Prison: Staff

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) staffing levels and (b) benchmark staffing targets at HMP Long Lartin were in each year since 2010.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The information requested is shown in the table below:Table 1: Number of full time equivalent staff at HMP Long Lartin, as at 31 March 2010 to 2017 and benchmark staffing levels, as at 30 April 2010 to 2017As at(1):Full-Time Equivalent staff in postBenchmark staffing level2010683…2011665…2012650…2013656…2014611604201557656720165345502017505551(1) Figures on full time equivalent staff in post are as at 31 March each year whilst the benchmark staffing level is as at 30 April each year.… denotes not available.

Prisons: Repairs and Maintenance

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has plans to review the prison maintenance contracts with GEOAmey and Carillion.

Mr Sam Gyimah: We are currently engaged in a joint review with providers and key stakeholders, to consider what changes in the current FM contract arrangements are required to deliver an improved service to HMPPS. Detailed design solutions are being reviewed by a Steering Group, composed of senior managers from the organisations involved, with a view to implementing changes which should result in a more responsive reactive maintenance provision, as well as improvements to the systems and processes required to manage the contracts effectively. In the interim we continue to manage and monitor performance closely through the current contractual processes.

Prisons

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the locations identified by his Department for the five new Community Prisons for Women.

Dr Phillip Lee: We are committed to doing all we can to address the issues around female offending so we can better protect the public and deliver more effective rehabilitation. We are developing a strategy for female offenders to improve outcomes for women in the community and custody. No decisions have been made on the locations of the proposed Community Prisons for Women. Further announcements will be made in due course.

Offenders: Females

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the timetable is for the introduction of the Female Offenders Strategy.

Dr Phillip Lee: We are committed to doing all we can to address the issues around female offending so we can better protect the public and deliver more effective rehabilitation. Considering how we can best address the needs of female offenders, to improve outcomes for them, their families and their communities, is a complex issue that we want to get right. We are working hard to develop the Female Offender Strategy and we will publish in due course.

Ministry of Justice: Social Media

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people in his Department with responsibility for social media are employed on a (a) full and (b) part-time basis.

Dr Phillip Lee: I refer the hon Member for Edinburgh North and Leith to the answer I gave to the Hon Member for Coventry South on 21 November October: UIN 113535.

Reparation by Offenders: Greater Manchester

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on restorative justice in Greater Manchester in each year from 2010.

Dr Phillip Lee: The government has demonstrated a long-term commitment to restorative justice through a number of national and local initiatives including:Grant funding of c£3.5m to the Restorative Justice Council since 2010 to deliver a programme of work to develop national standards for RJ practitioners, raise awareness and share best practice.c£1.2m to Restorative Solutions between 2013/14 and 2015/16 to deliver a pilot for pre-sentence restorative justice in 10 Crown Court centres (Manchester Crown Court participated in the pilot).Grant funding to Police and Crime Commissioners in 2013/14 and 2014/15 to develop the capacity and capability of RJ services and from 2015/16 to commission or deliver RJ services for victims as part of their wider support services for victims. NB. For 2016/17, the PCCs allocations do not have an indicative budget for RJ although they are still funded to provide RJ services.Investment through the Youth Justice Board of c£3m between 2011/12 and 2015/16 to develop restorative justice and improving the capability of Youth Offending Service staff and volunteers to deliver safe and effective restorative conferencing.The table below sets out what element of this funding was allocated to Greater Manchester (where such a breakdown is possible). Financial YearTotal grant for commissioning of victims’ support servicesIndicative allocation for RJ from victims’ support services grant (included in total grant)Youth Offending Teams2010/11£0n/a£02011/12£0n/a£40,0002012/13£0n/a£02013/14£994,000£184,000£90002014/15£934,000£299,000£144,0002015/16£3,017,000£611,000£20,0002016/17£3,230,000n/a£0N.B. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 1000

Offenders: Internet

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the prevalence of online anonymity network usage amongst convicted offenders.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The illicit use of mobile phones undermines the security and safety of prisons and enables criminals to access the internet. We are aware of this threat and the risk that prisoners may attempt to use anonymising encryption software. We are taking urgent and decisive action to tackle the issue of mobile phones as the number of devices seized continues to be too high. We have invested £2million into detection equipment, including hand-held detectors and portable detection devices. We are also working with mobile network operators to deliver ground-breaking technology, which will stop mobiles smuggled into prisons from working.

Grandparents: Parental Responsibility

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications by grandparents for rights of access to their grandchildren there were in each year since 2014.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many contact orders for grandparents to see their grandchildren were issued in each year since 2014.

Dominic Raab: The welfare of the child is the family court’s paramount concern when making decisions about a child’s upbringing. Neither parents nor grandparents have an automatic right to contact with a child.Separate orders for contact and residence, formerly known as access and custody respectively, were replaced by a single new “child arrangements” order on 22 April 2014. Such orders can now determine with whom a child is to live with and with whom a child is to spend time.The Department collates figures on the numbers of applications made by grandparents for child arrangements orders and the figures for such applications since 2014 are shown below:Year  Applications20141,61720151,85820161,9152017*1,088*Figures for January – June 2017 only The Department does not collate figures centrally on family members named in a child arrangements order. Details of the numbers of child arrangements orders issued specifically for grandparents to see their grandchildren could only be obtained by checking each file at disproportionate cost.

Personal Injury: Compensation

Vicky Ford: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress he has made in reducing the abuse of personal injury whiplash claims for incidents involving motor vehicles.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Government’s whiplash reforms in recent years have included improving the independence and quality of whiplash medical reports through the introduction of the MedCo system in 2015, as well as reducing and fixing the cost of those reports.In February this year, following consultation, the Government announced further reforms to help bear down on the number and cost of claims. Those reforms that require primary legislation will be introduced through a Civil Liability Bill which was announced in the Queen’s Speech. They are:the introduction of a fixed tariff of compensation for pain, suffering and loss of amenity for whiplash claims with a duration of up to two years; andbanning the practice of seeking or offering to settle such claims without medical evidence.In addition, secondary legislative rule changes will bring the vast majority of whiplash claims into the small claims track.

Prisons: Staff

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff have been employed in each private prison in each year since 2010.

Mr Sam Gyimah: This table displays the number of funded posts at each privately managed prison on 1 January in each year where data is available. Prison20172016201520142013201220112010Altcourse393.21393433424436488488488Ashfield152165169171Not AvailableNot AvailableNot AvailableNot AvailableBirmingham499.5500499497476521486 Bronzefield332.79369354355348355367369Doncaster406.48399392399382404590590Dovegate526516511524540539549543Forest Bank573576576548548548Not AvailableNot AvailableLowdham Grange406.6427.5413.5407.1Not AvailableNot AvailableNot AvailableNot AvailableOakwood464.97498439439441437  Parc718.3716720663672653694593Peterborough618.01604.51591.91518.97532.24551.45534.45Not AvailableRye Hill257255256250244246258259Thameside406406351351351   Northumberland408.3398.7394.5378 The shaded areas on the table indicate that a prison was not open in that year (Oakwood, Thameside and Northumberland) or that the prison was operated by the public sector at that time (Birmingham). Where data for a particular year is not available, this is indicated in the table. As the provision of this management information is not a contractual requirement, some of the historical data was not captured.

Department for International Trade

*No heading*

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of his Department's capacity to negotiate new trade agreements after the UK leaves the EU.

Greg Hands: The Department for International Trade is building a world-class trade policy and negotiations capability for the long-term future of our country. Since July 2016 our Trade Policy Group has grown significantly from 45 to over 400 today, and is continuing to grow. We have also established a series of working groups and high-level dialogues with key trade partners to explore the best ways of progressing our trade and investment relationships. These partners include the United States, Australia, Mexico and Japan.

*No heading*

Michelle Donelan: What plans he has to develop an export strategy after the UK leaves the EU.

Dr Liam Fox: My Noble Friend the Minister of State for Trade and Export Promotion (Baroness Fairhead), will lead the creation of a new export strategy, bringing together expertise from across Government and the private sector.This strategy will ensure that Government has the right financial, practical and promotional support in place to allow businesses to benefit from growth opportunities, generating wealth and wellbeing for the whole of the UK.In addition, the Government will launch a targeted campaign to promote the support available from UK Export Finance (UKEF), as part of the wider GREAT campaign.

*No heading*

Bridget Phillipson: What steps his Department plans to take to provide hon. Members with economic impact assessments prior to the approval of negotiating mandates for future trade deals and to keep hon. Members informed of progress with such deals.

Greg Hands: In ratifying EU free trade agreements we provide impact assessments to Parliament to enable Members from both Houses to consider the consequences of these agreements for the UK.As outlined in the White Paper ‘Preparing for our future UK trade policy’, we remain committed to a transparent, fair, and rules-based approach to international trade. We will ensure Parliament has an appropriate role to play in the scrutiny of new UK trade treaties.

Small Businesses

Michael Tomlinson: What plans his Department has to support Small Business Saturday.

Dr Liam Fox: Small Business Saturday is a nation-wide grass roots campaign, celebrating small businesses across the UK. It is now in its fifth year and will take place on Saturday 2 December 2017.DIT Ministers will be supporting this activity to promote our small businesses and their essential contribution to the UK economy.I am hosting a roundtable in Portishead to discuss exporting issues for SMEs and to celebrate Small Business Saturday with the Department’s mobile Exporting is GREAT Hub, which many members have already used.

Trade Bill 2017-19

Stephen Doughty: What formal consultations he undertook with the devolved administrations and other stakeholders on the provisions of the Trade Bill before that Bill was published.

Greg Hands: My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade met with Scottish and Welsh Government Ministers between publication of the Trade White Paper and introduction of the Trade Bill, and senior officials met their counterparts in Northern Ireland departments. DIT officials also spoke with each of the devolved administrations and shared draft clauses and explanatory notes prior to publication of the Bill.

Trade Agreements: Parliamentary Scrutiny

Martin Whitfield: What assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to establish a system better to enable parliamentary scrutiny of trade agreements.

Greg Hands: As outlined in the Government’s White Paper ‘Preparing for our future UK trade policy’, we remain committed to a transparent, fair, and rules-based approach to international trade and invited views on the UK’s approach to its future trade policy.We are reviewing responses and continue to engage with stakeholders on these issues.After March 2019, the Government will ensure that Parliament has an appropriate role to play in the scrutiny of new UK trade treaties.

Leader of the House

English Votes for English Laws

Cat Smith: To ask the Leader of the House, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the procedures for English votes for English laws in the 2017 Parliament; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom: Following the publication of the Technical Review of the Standing Orders Related to English Votes for English Laws in March 2017, the Government is confident that the Standing Orders are working effectively in applying the new procedures.Both the Government and Parliament continue to keep the implementation of the English Votes for English Laws under review.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Social Media

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people in his Department with responsibility for social media are employed on an (a) full and (b) part-time basis.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Various Defence communications staff have responsibilities to create and post content to social media channels. However this only forms one aspect of their role. Exact figures for staff with responsibility for social media could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

EU Satellite Centre

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Government plans to establish working relations and formal cooperation with the European Union Satellite Centre after the UK leaves the EU.

Mark Lancaster: Decisions on the UK's preferred relationship with the EU Satellite Centre after the UK leaves the EU have yet to be reached. The Ministry of Defence is in discussion with other Government Departments and will not make a decision in isolation.

Army Reserve

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people were recruited into the army reserve in each month since January 2014 for which figures are available; and what the total strength was of the army reserve in each of those months.

Mark Lancaster: The strength of the Army Reserve is regularly published by Defence Statistics in the UK Armed Forces monthly service personnel statistics which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-armed-forces-monthly-service-personnel-statistics-index The number of people recruited into the Army Future Reserve 2020 each month since January 2014 is shown in the attached table . The table shows total intake and a breakdown of those who joined the Army Reserve either untrained or already trained. Prior to 1 October 2016, Army Reserve trained intake comprised personnel who were Phase 1 and Phase 2 trained. From 1 October 2016 onward, Army Reserve trained intake comprises of personnel who are Phase 1 trained. 



Army Future Reserve 2020
(Word Document, 14.57 KB)

Army: Training

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of participants in university Officer Training Corps complete (a) the Army Reserve Commissioning Course and (b) the Commissioning Course for Regular Officers.

Mark Lancaster: Between 1 October 2009 and 1 September 2012 a total of 9,250 officer cadets attended the University Officer Training Corps (UOTC). The number of those who went on to hold a commissioned rank in the Army is shown below: Commissioned RankNumberRegular Officers1,040 (11%)Reserve Officers400 (4%) The date parameters were selected to allow sufficient time for the cadet to complete their university and subsequent Royal Military Academy Sandhurst commissioning course. The numbers above do not include personnel who joined the Army as a soldier. NotesFigures include Regulars and Group A Reserves who held a commissioned officer rank and had previously been officer cadets at University Officer Training Corp units.Some regular Officers (around 160) initially held a reserves commission and therefore appear in both figures..Those who became a Regular Officer and subsequently joined the Group A Reserve have not been double counted within those who joined Group A reserves.Professionally qualified personnel, such as doctors, who commission on entry, i.e. before they attend a commissioning course, are included in the figures.Figures have been rounded to 10; numbers ending in "5" have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.

Armed Forces: Museums and Galleries

Ross Thomson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the benefits of military museums on relations between the armed forces and local communities.

Mark Lancaster: In February 2017, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) published its review of the three Service Museums: The National Museum of the Royal Navy, the National Army Museum and the RAF Museum.The review recognised the value of the focus of the three Service Museums on maintaining the heritage of the Services, as well as being the custodians of key heritage assets for the Nation. This supports broader defence and cultural objectives through outreach and community engagement.The MOD Service Museums review can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-armed-forces-service-museums

Ministry of Defence: Scotland

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Table 2.1ab of his Department's spreadsheet entitled Quarterly location statistics: 1 October 2017, what the workplace locations are of the 3,970 civilian workers in his Department who are based in Scotland.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The stationed locations of Ministry of Defence civilian personnel based in Scotland, by local authority area, can be found in table 5.1a of the Quarterly Location Statistics. The latest figures can be found at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/location-of-uk-regular-service-and-civilian-personnel-quarterly-statistics-2017

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit: Rural Areas

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to assist (a) farmers and (b) people that pay themselves less than the minimum wage as universal credit is rolled out in rural areas.

Damian Hinds: Universal Credit provides the same financial and work coach assistance to farmers as to any other sector. And all claimants have the same rights and obligations. Claimants who are established in self-employment when they move to Universal Credit that are achieving low levels of earnings are able to get mentoring support through the New Enterprise scheme. This mentoring is designed to help participants further develop their business and grow their earnings to a level of sustainable self-sufficiency.

Universal Credit

Martin Whitfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many journals each journal manager working on universal credit in his Department is responsible for.

Damian Hinds: The caseload of a case manager will vary as it is dependent on a number of factors, including the complexity of the caseload and experience of the case manager.The full service continues to develop iteratively, with claimants able to increasingly self-serve and interact digitally with their work coach and case manager.

Universal Credit

Martin Whitfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many hours of job-specific training (a) journal managers and (b) work coaches working on universal credit receive prior to commencing work as a qualified journal manager or work coach.

Damian Hinds: Department for Work and Pensions staff moving into a case manager role delivering Universal Credit Full Service receive a minimum of 90 hours of job-specific training. New staff joining the Department in this role undertake a minimum of 143 hours of learning. Work coaches also receive a minimum of 90 hours of training before they start working on Universal Credit, and new staff taking up this role go through at least 178 hours of job-specific learning. In all cases, the Department ensures staff are given sufficient on-the-job training to consolidate what they have learnt.

Universal Credit: Waltham Forest

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the planned date for the transition to full service of universal credit is for the London Borough of Waltham Forest.

Damian Hinds: Holding answer received on 20 November 2017



As announced by the Secretary of State in his Oral Statement on 23rd November 2017, to accommodate the Universal Credit measures announced in the Budget, it has been necessary to make changes to the rollout schedule. A revised Universal Credit Rollout Schedule is attached and is also available in the Library.



Revised Universal Credit Rollout Schedule
(PDF Document, 143.21 KB)

Older Workers

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress he has made in implementing the Fuller Working Lives strategy since February; and whether statistics on the employment status of people over 50 years old will in future show the number of hours worked.

Damian Hinds: There are more older people in work than ever before, 10 million; an increase of 1.4 million over the last five years. DWP continues to work with business, stakeholders and other Departments to ensure everyone, Government, employers and individuals can adapt to the changing face of the workforce. DWP has expanded the Older Claimant Champion network in all 34 Jobcentre Plus districts. The Older Claimant Champions work collaboratively with over 11,000 work coaches and employer facing staff to raise the profile of older workers, highlight the benefits of employing older jobseekers and share best practice. DWP research into Jobcentre Plus provision for older claimants, published in February 2017, provided new evidence that older claimants found Jobcentre Plus support useful. Further analysis of Jobcentre Plus provision for older claimants is ongoing. DWP will publish an impact assessment and cost-benefit analysis of sector-based work academy provision and Work Experience for older claimants, in Spring 2018. In May 2017, The Business In The Community: Age at Work leadership team, as Business Champion for Older Workers, published its first year’s report which detailed their ‘commit and publish’ campaign, encouraging employers to monitor the age profile of their workforce, and publish workforce age data, as well as commit to increasing the number of older workers that they employ. In September 2017, DWP published ‘Economic labour market status of individuals aged 50 and over, trends over time’. These experimental Official Statistics provide analysis on the headline measures that the Government uses to monitor progress on Fuller Working Lives. We have no plans to include the number of hours worked in our Annual Official Statistics at present. The data on estimates of paid hours worked, weekly, hourly and annual earnings for UK employees by gender and full-time/part-time working by age group, are already publically available. They are published as part of the Office for National Statistics’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings statistical bulletin, which can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursandearnings/2017provisionaland2016revisedresults

Universal Credit: Disability

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 30 October 2017 to Question 109749, on universal credit: disability, how his Department plans to determine the extent to which users of universal credit statistics consider reporting on disabled people a high priority when reviewing the responses of the consultation.

Damian Hinds: The Universal Credit official statistics consultation ran from 13 September 2017 to 24 October 2017. We sought user views on our plans to expand the range of regular statistical publications of which Universal Credit is an element. We are currently reviewing the responses to the consultation, which asked users their areas of interest and what this additional information would be used for. This information will be used alongside the number of respondents requesting each topic area to decide the priority of future developments. A link to the results of the consultation will be published on the Universal Credit Statistics page which can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics

Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, at what proportion of personal independence payment appeals his Department is represented.

Sarah Newton: The Department is in the process of recruiting, training and deploying approximately 150 Presenting Officers at Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment Support Allowance Tribunals in order to present the Secretary of State’s case and support the First tier Tribunal in arriving at the right decision. According to internal data, from April 2017 to date, the PIP Presenting Officers have attended approximately 23 per cent of PIP appeals at the First tier Tribunal. The aim is for the PIP Presenting Officers to attend approximately 50 per cent of all PIP Tribunal hearings.

Work Capability Assessment

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, who is approved to carry out assessments for complex neurological conditions in work capability assessments.

Sarah Newton: All Healthcare Professionals undertaking Work Capability Assessments are highly-trained practitioners in their own field. They must be registered practitioners who have at least two years post-registration experience. Doctors and Physiotherapists are approved by DWP to undertake complex neurological Work Capability Assessments. Neurological training is already a core component of their professional education; this ensures that they have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to undertake these assessments.

Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent on representation at personal independent payment appeals in the last six years for which figures are available.

Sarah Newton: The information requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit

Gerard Killen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has carried out an equality impact assessment on the move from implicit to explicit consent for third-party agencies assisting universal credit claimants.

Damian Hinds: There was no move from implicit to explicit consent in the Universal Credit Full Service (UCFS). UCFS was conceived on the basis that explicit consent would be required owing to the need for higher levels of security for claimants and their data.

Universal Credit

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2017 to Question 70208, if he will provide information on how the estimated savings from the minimum income floor for universal credit were calculated for (a) 2017-18; (b) 2018-19; (c) 2019-20; (d) 2020-21, and (e) 2021-22.

Damian Hinds: The Minimum Income Floor is expected to encourage those reporting very low self-employed income to increase their earnings. Some people will respond to this by increasing their earnings from self-employment, others will look for other employment to increase their income and it is applied equally across all sectors of self-employment. The Minimum Income Floor is modelled using the Policy Simulation Model and Integrated Microsimulation Model (INFORM) where we apply it to the Universal Credit award calculation for the projected population of Universal Credit self-employed claimants.The Minimum Income Floor is calculated, as per policy, based on claimants characteristics i.e. National Minimum Wage/National Living Wage (which is a function of age), tax bracket and maximum work search requirement for a given claimant type.A more detailed modelling methodology of Universal Credit forecasts is likely to be published by Office for Budget Responsibility in 2018 as a part of their Welfare Trends Report series.

Universal Credit: Self-employed

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2017 to Question 9283, what the evidential basis is for the statement that flaws in the current system allow some self-employed claimants to receive full State support while declaring low or zero earnings.

Damian Hinds: Tax Credits for the self-employed lack a strong incentive for claimants to grow their earnings and reduce their dependency on welfare. The rules for eligibility for Working Tax Credit (WTC) are set out in the Tax Credits Act 2002 and the associated regulations, in particular the Working Tax Credit (Entitlement and Maximum Rate) Regulations 2002. These do not include a requirement for those claiming WTC to increase their earnings, or to earn more than a specified amount. The Government introduced the strengthened self-employment test into Working Tax Credit in 2015 to address the risk of individuals continuing to claim WTC, despite not working on a commercial and with a view to a profit basis. HMRC advice on this is in the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/revenue-and-customs-brief-7-2015-new-rules-for-the-self-employed-claiming-working-tax-credit/revenue-and-customs-brief-7-2015-new-rules-for-the-self-employed-claiming-working-tax-credit Historically, a high proportion of self-employed Tax Credit claimants saw little progression in their earnings over several years, including many of the lowest earners. Recently, HMRC and DWP have published data from a survey of self-employed tax credit claimants. These data confirm that many such claimants have low earnings and demonstrate the need to support and incentivise claimants to grow their earnings: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/self-employment-working-tax-credits-claimant-survey-and-follow-up-research

Universal Credit: Self-employed

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of self-employed claimants of universal credit are (a) gainfully self-employed (b) not gainfully self-employed and (c) have not been subjected to the gainful self-employment test; and how many of those claimants have identified as (i) employed under PAYE and (ii) neither employed or self-employed.

Damian Hinds: The requested information is not currently available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Access to Work Programme

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2017 to Question 107411, on social security benefits; disability, what savings his Department realised as a result of the cap on individual access to work grants in each year since 2015.

Sarah Newton: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Access to Work Programme

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2017 to Question 107411 on Social Security Benefits: Disability, what estimate his Department has made of the potential savings from the cap on individual Access to Work grants in each of the next five years.

Sarah Newton: The Department has not produced estimates of potential savings over the next five years.

Access to Work Programme: Hearing Impairment

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2017 to Question 107411 on Social Security Benefits; Disability, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on willingness of employers to recruit deaf employees of the Access to Work scheme not meeting the cost of workplace support beyond an employer's obligation to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act.

Sarah Newton: Employer willingness to address the cost of workplace support beyond an employer's obligation to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act is discussed in Paras 3.1.12 to 3.1.14 of The Equality Analysis for the future of Access to Work, published in May 2015, which can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/426416/future-of-access-to-work-equality-analysis.pdf

Access to Work Programme

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2017 to Question 107411 on Social Security Benefits: Disability, what estimate his Department made of the cost of increasing the Access to Work cap to (a) two-times national average earnings, (b) two and a half-times national average earnings and (c) three times national average earnings.

Sarah Newton: The Equality Analysis for the future of Access to Work, published in May 2015, includes estimated savings over 2014/15 for cap levels including double the average salary. See Table D here:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/426416/future-of-access-to-work-equality-analysis.pdf The information requested in questions (b) and (c) is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Access to Work Programme

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the amount of (a) overspend and (b) underspend in the Access to Work scheme in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Sarah Newton: Access to Work is a demand led scheme and we look to meet that demand from a broader financial envelope rather than have a fixed budget. As the amount spent reflects the number and nature of those demands we do not routinely publish forecast spend. The amount spent on AtW in each of the last 3 years is set out below Spend on the Access to Work Scheme 2014/152015/162016/17Total Access to Work programme spend£97.0m£96m£104mAssociated admin costs£8m£7.0m£8mGrand total£105m£103m£112m

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Agriculture: Antibiotics

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to encourage farming methods which reduce the use of antibiotics.

George Eustice: In response to the AMR Review chaired by Lord Jim O’Neill (May 2016), the government set a target to reduce the overall veterinary use of antibiotics in UK livestock from 62 mg/kg (2014 data) to 50 mg/kg by 2018. The government also committed to working with the livestock industry to set sector specific targets for further reductions in future veterinary antibiotic usage. The intention for the sector targets was that future reductions should be greatest where there was most scope, while safeguarding animal health and welfare. The government’s Veterinary Antibiotic Sales and Surveillance Report published by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate in October 2017 shows sales of antibiotics for use in food-producing animals has dropped by 27%, from 62 mg/kg in 2014 to 45mg/kg in 2016, surpassing the government’s target of 50 mg/kg two years ahead of schedule. Also in October, veterinary professionals and the livestock industry published stretching targets for a reduction in antibiotic usage in the following sectors: beef, dairy, egg, fish, gamebird, pig, poultry and sheep. The targets were developed in collaboration with government and are centred around the principle that ‘prevention is better than cure’. They are available here: http://www.ruma.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/RUMA-Targets-Task-Force-Report-2017-FINAL.pdf. To date the meat poultry section is leading the way with a 71% reduction in antibiotic usage between 2012 and 2016, whilst achieving an 11% increase in productivity over the same period.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Mr Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff of his Department are employed full-time as part of the current testing regime for controlling bovine tuberculosis.

George Eustice: No staff in my Department are employed full time on TB testing. Animal and Plant Health Agency vets and animal health officers involved in TB testing also carry out other duties.

Animal Welfare: Sentencing

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether legislative proposals to increase penalties available for animal cruelty offences require the commencement of section 281(5) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

George Eustice: Section 281(5) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 does not need to be commenced. The necessary changes can be made by amending section 32(1) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Home Office

Immigrants: Detainees

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations her Department has received from representatives of churches and other faith groups on time limits for immigration detention; and if she will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: Representations have been received from the Convenor (Church and Society) of the Church of Scotland which, amongst other things, called for the introduction of a time limit on immigration detention.

Entry Clearances: Sheffield

Mike Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many settlement applications were processed by Sheffield Visa Section between May and August 2016.

Brandon Lewis: The specific data requested is not published by the Home Office. Published data on the numbers of visas processed is published online at the following address:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-operations-transparency-data-august-2017 (then listed by publication date under ‘UK Visas & Immigration’).

Fire Services: Training

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department spent on training delivered by the Fire Service College in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17 and (c) 2017 to date; how much she expects to be spent on such training in (i) 2017-18, (ii) 2018-19 and (iii) 2019-20; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Nick Hurd: Responsibility for funding of the centralised National Resilience capability training delivered by the Fire Service College was transferred from the Department for Communities and Local Government to the Home Office under a Machinery of Government change effective from 1 April 2016. Home Office spend data can be found at the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-spending-over-25000-2016;This includes Capita Business Services activities who own the Fire Service College. DLCG also publish data at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dclg-spending-over-250 As part of Government policy to devolve further responsibilities to the Fire sector, centralised National Resilience training was passed to the sector lead authority, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority, effective from 1st April 2017. This offers increased value for money and allows in-year savings made to be used for the benefit of the national resilience capabilities.

Members: Correspondence

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the hon. Member for Warley can expect to receive a reply regarding the case of Mr Asad Joyn and his letter of 24 August 2017.

Brandon Lewis: A response was sent on 17 October 2017.

Proscribed Organisations: Internet

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many websites for (a) Scottish Dawn, (b) NS131 and (c) National Action have been removed since those organisations were proscribed.

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for how long websites for (a) Scottish Dawn, (b) NS131 and (c) National Action remained live after those organisations were proscribed.

Mr Ben  Wallace: The Police Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) refers content that they assess as contravening UK terrorism legislation and companies terms and conditions to Communications Service Providers (CSPs). This includes content of proscribed UK organisations such as National Action and its aliases. If CSPs agree that it breaches their terms and conditions they remove it voluntarily. Following the proscription of National Action in December 2016, HMG requested CSPs to remove and restrict access to National Action content.

Deportation: EU Nationals

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to part 5 of her Department's immigration statistics, published on 24 August 2017, how many and what proportion of the 5,301 enforced removals and other returns from detention of EU nationals were rough sleepers.

Brandon Lewis: The Home Office does not hold the information you have requested in a reportable format. The information requested could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.

Internet: Privacy

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to regulate the download of anonymity network broswers.

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people convicted under the Terrorism Act 2006 since November 2016 were found to be using anonymity network browsers.

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the prevalence of online anonymity network usage since the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 came into effect in November 2016.

Mr Ben  Wallace: The National Crime Agency and UK Intelligence Community regularly assess the threat to the UK from the use of online anonymity networks by criminals and terrorists. This information, which includes the details of those who were subsequently convicted under the Terrorism Act 2006 for using these networks is operationally sensitive.

Police

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the change in the number of police in the next five years.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office publishes information on the police workforce twice a year, the most recent statistics are for March 2017 and are available on the Government website.

Terrorism: British Nationals Abroad

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to identify Jihadists returning to the UK; and what steps her Department is taking to prosecute such people.

Mr Ben  Wallace: Everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq will be investigated by the police to determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to our national security. Where there is evidence that crimes have been committed, those responsible should expect to be prosecuted under the full range of existing counter terrorism legislation.

Elections

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department was made aware of Russian interference in UK elections.

Mr Ben  Wallace: As the Prime Minister made clear in her Mansion House speech, Russia makes aggressive use of cyber capability to mount sustained campaigns of espionage and disruption. To date, we have not seen evidence of successful interference in UK elections. We take any allegations of interference in UK democratic processes by a foreign government extremely seriously.

Counter-terrorism

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department’s publication, Individuals referred to and supported through the Prevent Programme, April 2015 to March 2016, page 11, published on the 9th November 2017, if she will make a comparative assessment of the likelihood of referral to each later stage of the Prevent Channel processes on (a) men and (b) women.

Mr Ben  Wallace: This is contained within the published figures (see table below). For men: of the 5,925 men referred over the year, 857 were discussed at a Channel panel and 322 went on to receive Channel support.For women: of the 1,597 women referred, 215 were discussed at a Channel panel and 59 then went on to receive Channel support. Numbers Financial Quarter TotalGender Q1Q2Q3Q4 Prevent Referrals  Male 1,3931,0781,7611,693 5,925Female 411263416507 1,597Unspecified61121422 109Total  1,865  1,353  2,191  2,222   7,631 Discussed at Panel  Male 158120298281 857Female 35267183 215Total  193  146  369  364   1,072 Received Channel Support Male 685710097 322Female 962519 59Total  77  63  125  116   381

Counter-terrorism

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 11 of her Department’s paper Individuals referred to and supported through the Prevent Programme, April 2015 to March 2016, published on the 9th November 2017, if she will make an estimate of the level of referral to each later stage of the Prevent and Channel processes for individuals subject to (a) right-wing extremist concerns and (b) other extremist concerns.

Mr Ben  Wallace: This is contained within the published figures (see table below). For those referred for right-wing extremist concerns: of the 759 individuals referred over the year, 189 were discussed at a Channel panel, and 99 went on to receive Channel support.For those referred for other extremist concerns – which we have taken to mean Islamist and Other as detailed in the table below: of the 5,699 individuals referred, 883 were discussed at a Channel panel and 282 then went on to receive Channel support.  Numbers Financial Quarter TotalType of Concern Q1Q2Q3Q4 Prevent Referrals  Islamist 1,1529191,4661,460 4,997Extreme Right Wing144146271198 759Other 147127248180 702Unspecified422161206384 1,173Total  1,865  1,353  2,191  2,222   7,631 Discussed at Panel  Islamist 160109265285 819Extreme Right Wing25278057 189Other 8102422 64Total  193  146  369  364   1,072 Received Channel Support Islamist 58487484 264Extreme Right Wing14154327 99Other 5-85 18Total  77  63  125  116   381

Counter-terrorism

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her department’s publication, Individuals referred to and supported through the Prevent Programme, April 2015 to March 2016, table D11, published on the 9 November 2017, if she will make an assessment of the reasons for low levels of referral of individuals subject to right-wing extremist concerns by friends and family, relative to the level for individuals subject to concerns relating to other forms of extremism.

Mr Ben  Wallace: This is the first release of Prevent data. To conduct any meaningful analysis we would expect to need at least three years data in order to show trends and patterns.

Homosexuality: Convictions

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of living men with historical convictions for gay sex offences have applied to have their convictions disregarded.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold these figures. However, the Explanatory Note attached to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 referred to an estimate of 12,000 convictions recorded on the Police National Computer that could be eligible for the disregard regime. It is important to note that this figure may not equate to the number of living individuals, as individuals could have been convicted of more than one offence. Additionally, the convictions may be for offences that do not meet the disregard criteria; the activity must have been consensual, with a person of 16 or over, and must not be an offence today. As of 13 October, 161 applications met the required criteria and were granted a disregard.

UK Border Force

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prepare the Border Force for the possibility of a no deal exit from the European Union.

Brandon Lewis: Border Force is working closely with other Government Departments on the detailed logistical and operational planning for managing all the impacts of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, on and at the border, including in a possible ‘no deal’ scenario..Future customs and immigration controls required following EU exit will depend on the outcome of the negotiations. All options are being considered. In the unlikely event that an agreement with the EU is not reached, the Government will work to ensure that trade between the UK and the EU is as frictionless as possible.

UK Border Force: Recruitment

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many additional Border Force employees her Department plans to recruit in preparation for when the UK leaves the EU.

Brandon Lewis: Border Force actively monitors workflows to ensure sufficient resources are in place to meet demand and will continue to do so throughout negotiations and as the UK leaves the EU. Border Force has already begun recruitment of an additional 300 frontline Border Force officers to enable training to be delivered to existing workforce, in preparation for any future arrangements required for EU exit at the border. This number will be kept under review.

EEA Nationals: Sleeping Rough

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many EEA nationals have been arrested by Immigration Compliance and Enforcement teams for rough sleeping in each of the last five years.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many EEA nationals have been forcibly removed from the UK for rough sleeping in each of the last five years.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many non-UK EEA nationals have been detained by Immigration Compliance and Enforcement teams for rough sleeping in each of the last five years.

Brandon Lewis: The Home Office does not hold the information you have requested in a reportable format. As such the information requested could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.

Fracking: Lancashire

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will commission an independent external review into whether the Lancashire Police operation at the Cuadrilla site near Blackpool since January 2017 has upheld legally protected fundamental rights.

Mr Nick Hurd: The police have statutory and common law powers and duties in relation to public order policing which must be used in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights.The police have a responsibility to facilitate peaceful protest and provide a lawful and proportionate policing response. This should balance the needs and rights of protesters with those affected by the protest, whilst ensuring they preserve the peace, uphold the law and prevent the commission of offences. Police tactics and decisions on how to achieve these objectives are a matter for the independent operational judgement of chief officers of police.

Grenfell Tower: Fires

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Written Statement of 11 October 2017, HCWS157, on Grenfell Tower fire, how many Grenfell Tower fire survivors who did not have leave to remain or permanent residency immigration status came forward to access services including housing.

Brandon Lewis: In July, we introduced a dedicated immigration policy to ensure survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire without leave to remain can access services and benefits and seek employment. It is a targeted policy designed to benefit a limited number of people. We have plans to publish statistics in due course and will not be providing updates on numbers in the meantime.

Migrant Workers: Fees and Charges

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the recommendations in the Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s report, Building the Post-Brexit Immigration System, whether the Government plans to exempt SMEs from the immigration skills charge.

Brandon Lewis: The Immigration Skills Charge (ISC), introduced on 6 April, is a charge paid by UK-based employers sponsoring non-EEA nationals under Tier 2, our main immigration work route.The ISC is designed to incentivise employers to invest in training and upskilling the resident workforce. Income raised by the Charge will be used to address skills gaps in the UK workforce - which will be of benefit to businesses in the long term.There is a flat rate of £1,000 per Tier 2 migrant sponsored per year but small or charitable sponsors already have a reduced rate of £364 per migrant per year.

Passports: Postal Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the annual cost to the public purse has been of the Government's contract with DX in relation to delivering UK passports.

Brandon Lewis: The Home Office awarded a contract to DX for the provision of secure delivery of passports within the UK with a start date of 01 February 2017. The approximate annual value of the contract at this time was £23m. The detail of actual contract spend to date is commercial in confidence.

Compulsorily Detained Mental Patients

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times s135 Mental Health Act 1983 has been used by each of the police constabularys in England and Wales in the last (a) 12 and (b) 24 months.

Brandon Lewis: The Home Office published information for the first time on the number of detentions under section 135 of the Act in the ‘Police powers, England and Wales, year ending March 2017’ statistical bulletin. Figures were published for 34 forces as ‘experimental statistics’ in Annex A of the publication, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/658099/police-powers-procedures-mar17-hosb2017.pdf Data covering the 2017/18 time period are due for publication in autumn 2018. A decision to obtain a warrant under section 135 of the Mental Health Act 1983, to enter private premises for the purposes of removing a person believed to be suffering from mental disorder to a place of safety, is usually taken by an approved mental health professional and not by the police, who attend solely to assist in executing the warrant.

Visas: Married People

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress UK Visas & Immigration has made on clearing the backlog of applications for spouse visas as a result of the Supreme Court ruling in February 2017.

Brandon Lewis: Significant progress has been made in taking decisions on applications affected by the MM Lebanon Supreme Court ruling and there remain very few applications awaiting assessment.

Visas: Married People

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time is for applicants waiting for decisions on spouse visa applications.

Brandon Lewis: The specific data requested is not published by the Home Office.Published data on visa processing times, including the percentage of visas processed within published service standards, is published online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data (then listed by publication date under ‘UK Visas & Immigration’).

Immigration

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how long the average wait time is for immigration applicants using the priority service.

Brandon Lewis: The specific data requested is not published by the Home Office.Published data on visa processing times, including the percentage of visas processed within published service standards, is published online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data (then listed by publication date under ‘UK Visas & Immigration’).

Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

Stephen Kerr: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many English language tests are available in China for student visas through the International English Language Test system.

Brandon Lewis: China has 22 permanent and 5 pop-up test centres across the country operated by IELTS and approved by UKVI. Tests are held at each venue on a regular and frequent basis in accordance with demand. An expansion plan to increase this number has been approved and will add an additional 6 permanent test centres and 3 pop-up venues.

Migrant Workers: EEA Nationals

Christine Jardine: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, following the announcement that the number of exceptionally talented migrant visas is to be doubled, what assessment she has made of the potential damage caused by the loss of free movement of EEA nationals on the digital technology, science and arts sectors.

Brandon Lewis: The current Exceptional Talent demonstrates our commitment to continuing to attract top international talent in the digital technology, science and arts sectors.We are building an immigration system that works in the national interest, and will continue to support these sectors and the wider economy. There are a range of options for the future immigration system and it is important that we understand the impacts on the different sectors of the economy and the labour market.On 27 July, the Government commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee to gather evidence on patterns of EU migration and the role of migration in the wider economy, ahead of our exit from the EU. The MAC will report in September 2018 and its findings will help shape the government’s decisions on the future immigration system.

Visas: New Businesses

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa applications were refused in 2016-17 as a result of applicants being unable to provide evidence of investment funds in regulated financial institutions.

Brandon Lewis: The Home Office retains records of visa decisions, including reasons for refusal, on internal casework systems. This information is not collated in central statistical databases, and is not recorded in a format suitable for publication. It is an integral feature of the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) route that all applicants provide the required evidence to show that they hold the required minimum funds to invest in their business.

HM Passport Office: Luton

Mr Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passport application interviews have been conducted at Luton HM Passport Office in each year since 2012.

Brandon Lewis: Her Majesty’s Passport Office has conducted 55,064 interviews at the Luton Interview Office since 2012. The table below shows the number of annual passport interviews conducted.  YearInterviews conducted at Luton Interview Office20129347201312236201410650201578392016100832017*4909 *part year data to 19/11/2017

HM Passport Office: Luton

Mr Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of HM Passport Office's customers resident in Luton are required to attend an interview when making an passport application.

Brandon Lewis: Her Majesty’s Passport Office do not hold information on how many people in a particular area could be required to attend a passport application interview.

HM Treasury

Treasury: Social Media

Deidre  Brock: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people in his Department with responsibility for social media are employed on an (a) full and (b) part-time basis.

Andrew Jones: 4 full-time members of staff are employed by HM Treasury to work on digital communications, including social media.

Energy: Taxation

Caroline Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make a comparative assessment of the tax treatment of (a) Good Quality gas CHP,  (b) shale gas, (c) North Sea Oil, (d) coal, (e) gas for heating and power production and (f) renewable energy; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones: The government is committed to ensuring security of energy supply and affordability for consumers and businesses, while meeting legally-binding decarbonisation targets. This involves a diverse portfolio of power generation technologies, including renewables, nuclear, and fossil fuels. HM Treasury and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) keep all aspects of the tax system under review, to ensure that it supports the government’s objectives.

Tobacco: Excise Duties

Craig Mackinlay: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish the results of the consultation on the tax treatment of heated tobacco products.

Andrew Jones: The government is analysing the responses to the consultation and will respond in due course.

Tobacco: Excise Duties

Craig Mackinlay: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the point of income maximisation on tobacco excise; and what steps he plans to take in the event the point has been reached.

Andrew Jones: The government keeps all taxes under review and considers this issue carefully at each fiscal event.

Cabinet Office

Brexit

Tommy Sheppard: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the Civil Service workforce required to administer a transitional period when the UK leaves the EU.

Caroline Nokes: Workforce planning is primarily the responsibility of each department. The Civil Service constantly reviews its capabilities in order to deliver the Government's commitment to leave the EU and get the best deal for the UK. Civil Service HR is working with all departments across the Civil Service to better understand their capacity and capability requirements.

Department for Work and Pensions: Government Property Unit

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 12 October 2017 to Question 105820, if he will make public applications made to the Government property unit to extend or renew their lets in each year since 2012 which were granted with conditions attached to them; and what the conditions were in each case.

Caroline Nokes: DWP have transferred this PQ to Cabinet Office for a response. In reply to question 105820, Cabinet Office stated that GPU does not release the specific detail relating to individual applications for expenditure as these are commercially sensitive. It would be the applicant department’s decision as to whether to release this information. GPU have contacted DWP asking whether they would grant permission to publish the information on DWP's behalf. DWP have stated that their policy is that they do not publish these figures as it might undermine or jeopardise the commercial process.

Deloitte: Hacking

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what date the Government was made aware of the Deloitte cyber attack.

Caroline Nokes: Deloitte notified the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to a cyber incident affecting their USoperations in September 2017.Based on current information, there is no indication of impact to the UK branch of the organisation,which operates a separate infrastructure to their American counterparts. The NCSC are workingwith partners to better understand the threat and identify any mitigation measures.

Terrorism: Cultural Heritage

Tom Watson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether recovery funding, as laid out in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, is available to public cultural institutions that incur security costs due to terrorist attacks.

Caroline Nokes: Holding answer received on 24 October 2017



Recovery funding is not covered by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. Following a terrorist attack, as with any emergency, the relevant department or departments responsible for the sectors affected may consider whether to provide recovery funding. I also refer the Hon Member to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s answer to PQ 106697.

Department for Work and Pensions: Electronic Government

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of the visits to GOV.UK Verify are for the purpose of accessing his Department's services.

Caroline Nokes: Between Monday 2 January and Sunday 15 October, there were 3,384,342 visits to GOV.UK Verify. Out of these 338,438 (10%) visits were for Check Your State Pension and 387,046 for Universal Credit (11.4%). There were a total of 725,484 visits (21.4%) for DWP and Pensions services.

Shared Services Connected

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Departments outsource their finance, HR and payroll services to Shared Services Connected Ltd.

Caroline Nokes: Nine departments receive some of their Finance, HR, and Payroll services from SSCL, these are listed below. It should be noted that Machinery of Government Changes have led to the disbanding and creation of departments within the scope of SSCL over the course of the contract. The departments are: Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Department of Food, Environment, and Rural Affairs (Defra), Department for Education (DfE), Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU), Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Home Office (HO), Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Cabinet Office (CO), and Food Standards Agency (FSA).

Government Departments: ICT

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of savings to the public purse as a result of moving Department's back office servers and ERP systems into shared service centres in each of the last three years; and to which Department's budgets those savings have been accrued.

Caroline Nokes: The Cabinet Office does not make an estimate of savings to the public purse as a result of moving department's back office servers and ERP systems into shared service centres, so it is not possible to provide an answer to this question.

Public Sector: Land

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans his Department has to increase the sale of public land surplus to the Government's requirements.

Caroline Nokes: The Government Property Unit in Cabinet Office is responsible for overseeing implementation of the Government Estate Strategy. This means working with Government Departments to ensure the estate is efficient and fit-for-purpose to support operations now and in the future. The GPU commissions Departments to produce annual Strategic Asset Management Plans, setting out how they plan to implement the Government Estate Strategy within their property portfolio. Government is working towards our commitment to raise £5 billion from releasing surplus land in 2015 - 2020. In doing so, our ambition is to also unlock land with capacity for 160,000 new homes.We are also supporting collaboration across the public sector to make better use of our collective estate. Our successful partnership with the Local Government Association to deliver the One Public Estate programme aims to support 95% of councils in England by 2018. Through joint working across central and local Government and the wider public sector we are delivering more integrated public services, local growth (homes and jobs) and efficiencies. We are currently in the process of further expanding the One Public Estate programme. In addition to new and existing partnerships applying for funding and support to deliver collaborative schemes, we have partnered with the Department for Communities and Local Government to include a £45 million capital Local Authority Land Release Fund. This combination of One Public Estate and DCLG funding and support will be a significant boost to unlocking public land for new homes. The current partnerships are expected to release land to deliver 25,000 housing units by 2020.

Terrorism: Greater Manchester

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many requests for financial support the Government has (a) received and (b) granted as a result of the 2017 Manchester terrorist attack.

Caroline Nokes: Holding answer received on 20 November 2017



(a) The Government has received five direct requests to departments for financial support as a result of the appalling Manchester terrorist attack.(b) The Government has to date provided financial assistance on a wide range of areas to support the ongoing recovery operation in Manchester. This includes £185,000 for an Education Psychologist Programme to help young people impacted by the attack; £337,000 in 2017/18 for support to victims of terrorist attacks, including £79,000 specifically to support services in Manchester and a £276,000 donation to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund. Government is in conversation with VisitBritain to explore ways in which we continue to support and promote Manchester and the surrounding region. Furthermore, charitable payments from the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund have been disregarded in the calculation of income-related benefits since June 2017. The Prime Minister has committed to responding in full to the outstanding requests for additional funding from the Greater Manchester Mayor before 26th November 2017.

Cabinet Office: Social Media

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people in his Department with responsibility for social media are employed on an (a) full and (b) part-time basis.

Caroline Nokes: There is no one employed in the Cabinet Office who only has responsibility for social media, on either a full or part-time basis.

Government Departments: Cybercrime

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps have been taken since publication of the National Cyber Security Strategy to ensure that government departments are adequately protected from cyber-attacks.

Caroline Nokes: We have strengthened government’s cyber resilience through the adoption of our National Cyber Security Centre’s Active Cyber Defence measures, migration away from insecure legacy or unsupported IT systems and the safe adoption of cloud services. We have established a security profession that will continue to deliver a pipeline of cyber security talent to departments. Cabinet Office will shortly issue new minimum Cyber Security Standards to all central Government departments ensuring comprehensive protection from cyber attacks.

Cybercrime: Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council

Anna Turley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council on ensuring that the council has in place sufficient security measures to protect against cyber-attacks.

Caroline Nokes: The Government takes the threat of cyber attacks against public services very seriously. We support Local Government in improving their cyber resilience and encourage all organisations to implement the advice and guidance developed by National Cyber Security Centre experts and published on their website (www.ncsc.gov.uk). In addition, the Government's Active Cyber Defence (ACD) programme has launched, with four key services made available for use across the public sector. The NCSC’s Annual Report, published on 3 October 2017, provided an update on rollout.

Government Departments: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) qualitative and (b) quantitative information is collected on Strategic Supplier perceptions of Crown Representatives.

Caroline Nokes: The work of the Crown Representatives overall is seen as positive by suppliers. This view is supported by figure 8 contained within the NAO report “Managing Government Suppliers“ https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/10298-001-Governments-managing-contractors-HC-811.pdf

Government Departments: Procurement

Bill Esterson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to publish the report commissioned to identify where Government departments can increase spending on small and medium-sized enterprises.

Caroline Nokes: In response to a recommendation from the Public Accounts Committee, the Crown Commercial Service commissioned research to help to identify the areas where small and medium-sized businesses can best add value. This work was undertaken to inform internal decision-making and is not intended for publication.

Government Departments: Procurement

Bill Esterson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what importance he places on Government departments prioritising spending on small and medium-sized enterprises; and what the reasons are for that policy.

Caroline Nokes: We recognise the vital role that small and medium-sized businesses have to play in helping us to achieve the best possible value for money when we buy goods and services.Consequently, we are committed to removing all possible barriers to small businesses in this Government’s commercial arrangements, and we have set ourselves a challenging target of 33% of central government procurement spend going to small and medium businesses by 2022.

Government Departments: Procurement

Bill Esterson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of Government spend in 2015-16 was on small and medium-sized enterprises in each of the (a) communications, (b) construction, (c) engineering goods, (d) industrial services, (e) logistics and (f) office solutions sectors.

Caroline Nokes: On 11th October 2017 we published the latest small and medium-sized enterprises’ spending performance figures:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/central-government-spend-with-smes-2015-to-2016 These show that government spent £12.2 bn in 2015-16 with small and medium sized enterprises, more than we have ever before recorded. We do not currently monitor the breakdown of spend with SMEs by commercial sector.

Government Departments: Procurement

Bill Esterson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises suppliers were paid within 30 days of invoice date by prime contractors to Government departments in the last 12 months.

Caroline Nokes: The Cabinet Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: Social Media

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many people in his Department with responsibility for social media are employed on an (a) full and (b) part-time basis.

James Brokenshire: The Northern Ireland Office Communications team currently has a total of 6 staff members. One full-time officer has responsibility for all aspects of social media engagement. However, as part of their role as Government Communications Officers, all communications team members are required to carry out a wide range of communications activities.

Northern Ireland Government

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if he will include the leaders of the four main churches in Northern Ireland in discussions about the restoration of a functioning Northern Ireland Assembly; and if he will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: Holding answer received on 21 November 2017



I have a regular programme of engagement which includes community and faith groups. One of the regular topics of discussion is the restoration of a functioning Northern Ireland Assembly.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Social Media: Russia

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with social media companies on spending through Russian-linked accounts designed to influence the (a) 2016 EU referendum and (b) 2017 General Election.

Matt Hancock: Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Ministers have regular discussions with representatives from the major social media companies which cover a wide range of issues Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.The DCMS Select Committee investigation into fake news is also a vital part of our response to fake news and disinformation. The findings and recommendations of this enquiry will be announced in due course.

Social Media: Fraud

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with representatives from (a) Twitter and (b) Facebook on controlling troll and fake accounts used to influence the democratic process in the UK.

Matt Hancock: Officials in my Department have had a number of meetings with representatives of Twitter and Facebook to discuss a wide range of issues.

Arts

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to stimulate growth in the creative sector in all parts of the UK.

Matt Hancock: We recognise the huge role the creative sector plays in driving local economic growth. We support this growth via tax credits, regional growth programmes, the relocation of Arms Length Bodies and working across Government to ensure ‘place’ is considered fully within the Industrial Strategy. As part of the Industrial Strategy, we commissioned Sir Peter Bazalgette to pull together bold ideas to bolster the creative industries UK-wide. We are working with the sector to explore his recommendations.

Broadcasting: Devolution

Peter Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what her policy is on the devolution of broadcasting powers.

Matt Hancock: Broadcasting is and should remain a reserved matter.

Music

John Spellar: To ask the secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the financial contribution of the music industry to UK GDP in each year from 2010

Matt Hancock: Annual estimates of the contributions of the Creative Industries, and within that the ‘music, performing and visual arts’ sub-sector, to the UK economy, are available online at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates.

Internet: Bullying

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what cross-departmental initiatives her Department undertakes to tackle cyberbullying and to protect young people from abuse online.

Matt Hancock: The Government's Internet Safety Strategy Green Paper sets out our expectation for social media and technology companies to protect young users from online harms. Measures include a social media Code of Practice, to address conduct that is bullying or insulting to users, or other behaviour that is likely to intimidate or humiliate. The Strategy also outlines the crucial role that education plays in raising the level of users' safety online. DCMS and DfE will ensure new compulsory subjects in England, Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education, and Personal, Social, Health, Economic education (if taken forward), address the challenges experienced by young people online. Parents, carers and teachers should be empowered to engage with young people on online issues and we are consulting on support Government can offer. Since September 2016 the Department for Education has provided £1.6 million to four anti-bullying organisations to support schools over two years. The Government Equalities Office has also funded anti-cyberbullying and online safety resources available to schools through the UK Safer Internet Centre.

Charities: Redcar and Cleveland

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the amount of funding given directly by Government to charities in Redcar and Cleveland.

Tracey Crouch: Government contributes a significant amount of funding to the voluntary sector through grants and contracts. According to the latest figures from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, government contributed a total of £14.4 billion annually to the sector, £7.3 billion of which came from central government. We do not hold information on total funding for charities in individual boroughs.

Tourism: Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council on steps to increase tourism in the area.

John Glen: VisitBritain and VisitEngland work with Destination Management Organisations to promote tourism in the regions across England. Government also provides funding for projects to improve the visitor offer in particular areas, including the Discover England Fund and the Coastal Communities Fund. Redcar and Cleveland has received recent funding for The Cleveland Way, a Discover England Fund project, and has received three Coastal Communities Fund grants since 2013 totalling £2.5m.

Arts: Young People

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with the Department for Education on ensuring young people from diverse backgrounds can succeed in the creative industries.

Matt Hancock: Ministers for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have regular discussions with their counterparts in the Department for Education on a range of issues relating to the creative industries, including ensuring young people from diverse backgrounds can succeed in the sector. The Department also supports a wide range of initiatives to diversify talent in the creative industries, including the Creative Industries Council’s Create Together strategy, which sets diversity targets for the sector; qthe BFI’s Three Ticks, which requires films receiving public funding to meet diversity standards; and Project Diamond, which monitors diversity in the broadcasting sector.

Broadband: North West

Conor McGinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what average broadband speeds were in (a) St Helens, (b) Merseyside and (c) the North West in each year since 2010.

Matt Hancock: Historic broadband speeds were published by Ofcom with their Infrastructure Report and Connected Nation's report and reanalysed by the House of Commons library. Independent figures have also been estimated by Thinkbroadband and are available from their website (http://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/england).

Gaming Machines

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish the KPMG report referenced in the impact assessment for her Department’s publication Consultation on proposals for changes to Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility Measures, published on the 31st October 2017.

Tracey Crouch: I refer the hon. member to the answer to PQ 112719.

Gaming Machines

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on publishing the fiscal effect of reducing the maximum stake on fixed odds betting terminals.

Tracey Crouch: Ministers from the Department of Digital, Media, Culture and Sport have regular discussions with their counterparts at HM Treasury on a wide range of issues. On 31 October 2017 the Government published a consultation on proposals for changes to gaming machine stakes and prizes and social responsibility measures, including an impact assessment of the potential policy options. The consultation can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-proposals-for-changes-to-gaming-machines-and-social-responsibility-measures

Gaming Machines

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate her Department has made of the potential value of monetarised social benefits of reducing B2 machine stakes.

Tracey Crouch: The Review of Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility Measures and the impact assessment published alongside the consultation document include qualitative analysis regarding wider economic effects and the impact on individuals and communities. The framework for analysis in the impact assessment takes into account some isolated economic effects in other gambling markets but does not attempt to look at the effects on the rest of the economy (general equilibrium) because doing so would be disproportionate relative to the size of the policy impacts expected. We welcome further evidence on costs and benefits in response to the consultation and an updated IA will be published with the Government’s final proposals.

Gertrude Bell

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has any plans to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Gertrude Bell in 2018; and if she will make a statement.

John Glen: My Department has no plans to mark the anniversary in question.

Charities: Trusts

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to encourage greater diversity on charity trustee boards.

Tracey Crouch: Last week the Charity Commission published ‘Taken on Trust’, a report based on a major research project into trusteeship. The Office for Civil Society worked in partnership with the Commission and sector stakeholders to make this research possible. The findings have highlighted a lack of diversity amongst boards of trustees. The government would now like to see the sector take the lead in further exploring these issues and finding the right solutions.

Department of Health

Vaccination: Children

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much was spent from the public purse on child vaccinations in each year since 2010 to date.

Steve Brine: Data are not collected in the format requested.

Department of Health: Social Media

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in his Department with responsibility for social media are employed on an (a) full and (b) part-time basis.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Department does not have any members of staff who have social media as their sole responsibility. There is a wide range of people in the department who have some responsibility for social media, including the monitoring of social media activity, as well as posting content on official Departmental channels. Because this responsibility is spread so widely, it means we are not able to give a specific number of full-time or part-time staff who have responsibility for social media.

Mental Health Services: Kent

Sir Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what change there has been in spending on mental health as a proportion to overall spending since 2016 by the (a) West Kent and (b) Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley clinical commissioning groups.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Changes to overall spending for the West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Dartford, Gravesend and Swanley CCG since 2016 are set out in the tables below: West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group2016/172017/18% Mental Health Spend9.32%9.75% Dartford, Gravesend and Swanley CCG2016/172017/18% Mental Health Spend6.16%6.49%

Diabetes: Children

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to prevent Type 2 diabetes in children.

Steve Brine: There is a strong association between obesity and the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. ‘Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action’, launched in 2016, aims to prevent obesity in children and in doing so supports the prevention of Type 2 diabetes in young people. The plan involves encouraging the food industry to cut the amount of sugar in products, as well as helping children to eat more healthily and stay active. Part of the scheme involves the sugar reduction and wider reformulation programme, which will help reduce the amount of sugar children consume. In addition, Change4Life, Public Health England’s behaviour change social marketing campaign encourages families across England to ‘eat well and move more’.

Anorexia

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with anorexia have access to timely treatment and early intervention.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Government made £150 million of additional investment available in the 2014 Autumn Statement for children and young people’s eating disorder services (including services for anorexia), over the five years to 2019/20. From April 2017, we established a new eating disorder service waiting time for children and young people – with the ambition that by 2020/21 95% of children will receive treatment within one week for urgent cases and within four weeks for routine cases. The latest data from NHS England showed that in Q1 2017-18 73.3% of patients started urgent treatment within one week and 78.7% of patients started routine treatment within four weeks. NHS England has now commissioned 70 new or enhanced community services for eating disorders so everyone can get the help they need to manage these conditions. The National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health in partnership with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is developing a pathway for adults with eating disorders, together with detailed implementation guidance for providers, during 2017/18. The pathway will be fully informed by the available evidence and the views of experts. NICE also published its updated Clinical Guideline: Eating Disorders – recognition and treatment, on managing and treating eating disorders for the over 8s - including adults, children and young people in May 2017.

Midwives

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2017 to Question 111054, on midwives, if his Department will ensure the collection of data on where specialist midwifery posts are in place.

Mr Philip Dunne: The information held by NHS Digital is based upon the National Workforce Data Set which allows for the capture of nationally consistent information about midwives for the purposes of monitoring and workforce planning. This does not capture a sufficient level of detail to allow the investigation of very specialist services including specialist midwives. At present NHS Digital is engaged in a sub-group of the Workforce Information Review Group. This is tasked with scoping the information requirements of the system related to healthcare recruitment, and to produce proposals to enhance the information available. Part of this work includes giving consideration to current data gaps.

General Practitioners: Finance

Sandy Martin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to access the potential merit of using deprivation factors in the formula for funding GP surgeries.

Steve Brine: The Department recognises the importance of deprivation factors. NHS England is working with the British Medical Association to review the Carr-Hill funding formula and ensure that distribution of funding takes into account, as far as possible, key factors that increase demand for primary medical care services. Evidence shows that people in deprived communities are likely to have an increased need for primary medical care and this is reflected in the existing formula. This important consideration will continue to be a key factor in any future changes.

Allergies: Medical Treatments

Conor McGinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will allow restaurants to buy and store adrenaline auto-injectors.

Steve Brine: We have no plans to do so. Adrenaline Auto Injectors are injectable prescription only medicines. Under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, they can only be administered by, or in accordance with, the directions of a prescriber except for the purpose of saving life in an emergency. However, this does not allow anyone to obtain stocks of the medicine in advance of an emergency. In effect, the law only allows settings such as hospitals and schools to do so. Extending this to restaurants could pose substantial risks that are likely to outweigh potential benefits.

Cervical Cancer: Screening

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase the take-up of cervical screening.

Steve Brine: Public Health England (PHE), the Department and NHS England continue to work together to understand and redress the falling participation in the National Health Service cervical screening programme. There is a range of work being undertaken by PHE to understand the reasons for the decline in uptake and to support the NHS and local authorities (LAs) to address them. They include access to timely and useful data for benchmarking, evidence on best practices to increase uptake among women who wish to be screened, using governance levers to advise NHS and LAs and working in partnership with commissioners, providers and charities.

Allergies: Medical Treatments

Conor McGinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on which schools have adrenaline auto-injectors.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Data on the number of schools having a spare adrenaline auto-injector without a prescription for use in emergencies is not held centrally.

General Practitioners: Pay

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment has been made of the potential effect of the differential pay for GPs working in standard general practices, out-of-hours services, or seven-day-access services on recruitment and staffing levels; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Brine: Doctors employed by general practitioner (GP) practices will carry out a variety of different duties depending on the needs of the service locally. We know practices will want to develop a local employment offer which best attracts and retains the staff they need to deliver care and advice to patients. GPs also need to recruit, retain and motivate staff in an affordable way.However, GP practices are required to employ doctors on terms no less favourable than those agreed with the General Practitioners’ Committee of the British Medical Association and contained in the document entitled “Model terms and conditions of service for a salaried practitioner employed by a GMS practice”.We continue to explore workforce issues in general practice with relevant stakeholders.

Clinical Commissioning Groups

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, who is responsible for (a) appointing and (b) removing chief clinical officers of Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Steve Brine: Responsibility for the appointment and removal of a chief clinical officer lies with the clinical commissioning group and is undertaken within a framework set by NHS England. NHS England has produced guidance to support the employment of senior managers in clinical commissioning groups and is available at:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ccg-snr-appt-guidance.pdf

Clinical Commissioning Groups

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what powers he has to intervene in clinical commissioning groups in the event that there are concerns about commissioning policies.

Steve Brine: Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are independent organisations responsible for their own commissioning decisions. NHS England is accountable for ensuring that CCGs commission services that are high quality, and deliver value for money; this is assessed through mechanisms such as the CCG Improvement and Assessment Framework. Where performance concerns are identified, NHS England has the ability to exercise formal powers to either provide enhanced support to a CCG, or to issue legal directions where it believes that a CCG is failing or is at risk of failing to discharge its functions. The Department holds NHS England to account for improving the performance of CCGs. This is done through mechanisms such as the Mandate to NHS England.

Diabetes: Health Education

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of the third type of diabetes.

Steve Brine: There is currently no consensus amongst clinicians to whether there is enough evidence to formally support a title of type 3 diabetes. It is however recognised that diabetes is one of the risk factors for dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. Work is ongoing to look at ways of preventing dementia, including known risk factors.

Diabetes: Health Services

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential for individual intervention to achieve behaviour change to prevent type-2 diabetes.

Steve Brine: In 2015, Public Health England commissioned a systematic review and meta-analysis assessing the effectiveness of pragmatic lifestyle interventions for the prevention of type 2 diabetes in routine practice. The review identified that individual behaviour change intervention which are intensive and long-term on average resulted in 26% lower incidence of diabetes and an average 1.57kg weight loss. The evidence review supported the case for a national diabetes prevention programme and formed the basis of the specification for the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, which was rolled out in 2016.

General Practitioners: West Midlands

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time for a GP appointment was in (a) Warley constituency and (b) Sandwell Borough in each year between May 2010 and November 2017.

Steve Brine: The average waiting time for a general practitioner (GP) appointment is not collected or held centrally. In the 2017 GP patient survey, 70.8% of respondents stated they “saw or spoke to someone at a time they wanted to or sooner”. The Government is committed to delivering routine weekend or evening appointments at either their own GP surgery or one nearby to all registered patients by March 2019. 86 of the 88 practices in Sandwell and West Midlands Clinical Commissioning Group are participating in the Primary Care Commissioning Framework (PCCF) which is committed to the development of “primary care at scale”. In addition to all practices being open during normal opening hours, through the PCCF 100% of the clinical commissioning group population can also access GP appointments 6:30-8:30pm on weekdays and on Saturdays and Sundays at their own or a nearby practice.

NHS: Digital Technology

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to provide training to clinical commissioning groups and GPs on use of digital solutions and apps for those with long-term health conditions such as diabetes.

Steve Brine: NHS England has advised that it is supporting the implementation and evaluation of digital behaviour change interventions in eight areas in England. This live service evaluation, which commenced in November 2017, is giving people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes access to a range of apps, gadgets, wristbands and other innovative digital interventions. As part of this work, NHS England is running training sessions with primary care staff to familiarise them with these digital services and to provide them with the skills to advise and support the individuals who will be using these digital interventions.

Primodos

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward proposals for a review of the findings of the Report of the Commission on Human Medicines Expert Working Group on Hormone Pregnancy Tests, published in October 2017.

Steve Brine: The Commission on Human Medicines published the report of its Expert Working Group on Hormone Pregnancy Tests on 15 November 2017. Departmental ministers have accepted the report’s conclusions and recommendations. Based on its extensive and thorough review, the Expert Working Group’s overall finding, endorsed by the Commission on Human Medicines, is that the available scientific evidence, taking all aspects into consideration, does not support a causal association between the use of Hormone Pregnancy Tests, such as Primodos, during early pregnancy and adverse outcomes of pregnancy, including miscarriage, stillbirth or congenital anomalies. In addition to the overall conclusion, the Expert Working Group has made a number of recommendations to safeguard future generations through further strengthening the systems in place for detecting, evaluating, managing and communicating safety concerns associated with the use of medicines in early pregnancy. All the available relevant evidence on a possible association has been extensively and thoroughly reviewed with the benefit of up-to-date knowledge by experts from the relevant specialisms. There are no proposals for a review of the report’s findings and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will now take forward the recommendations.

NHS: Repairs and Maintenance

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 5 April 2017 to Question 69510 on NHS: Repairs and Maintenance, what the cost of backlog maintenance for each level of assessed risk was in the NHS (a) in total and (b) for each NHS organisation in each year since 2010-11.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Backlog Maintenance cost reported by the National Health Service in total since 2010-11 is:  Cost to eradicate high risk backlogCost to eradicate significant risk backlogCost to eradicate moderate risk backlogCost to eradicate low risk backlog £ million£ million£ million£ million2010-11321.71,021.61,523.61,298.72011-12296.3926.41,484.81,316.32012-13353.11,002.01,476.51,204.32013-14356.61,016.71,426.61,241.82014-15458.01,062.11,551.31,266.52015-16776.01,568.01,516.01,115.02016-17947.11,791.81,798.41,008.2 The equivalent data for each NHS organisation is attached. The Department collects data on backlog maintenance annually from the NHS trusts through its Estates Returns Information Collection. The data collected has not been amended centrally and its accuracy always remains the responsibility of the contributing NHS organisations.



PQ114729 attached document
(Excel SpreadSheet, 395.5 KB)

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the statement by Simon Stevens in his speech to the NHS providers conference in Birmingham on 8 November 2017 that it is going to be increasingly hard to expand mental health services.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department remains committed to delivering the recommendations set out in the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health published in 2016 supported by the document Stepping Forward to 2020/21: Mental Health Workforce Plan for England, for ensuring that 1 million more people with mental health problems are accessing high quality care. NHS England has recognised that an additional £1 billion investment will be required by 2020/21 to support the plan. This will build on the £280 million investment each year already committed to drive improvements in children and young people’s mental health, and perinatal care. We have already seen a real term increase in clinical commissioning groups spending from 2013/14 to 2016/17 of £1.6 billion and we estimate around 1,400 more people are already accessing mental health services every day compared to 2010.

Secure Psychiatric Units: Domestic Visits

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his oral evidence to the Health Select Committee of 31 October 2017, Question 62, which locked mental rehabilitation ward he has visited.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department of Health has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his statement on the Andrew Marr BBC TV programme of 29 October 2017, whether the 1,400 more people being treated each day included people being referred to mental health therapies.

Jackie Doyle-Price: This information is not held centrally.

Women and Equalities

Equal Pay

Ellie Reeves: What steps the Government is taking to achieve equal pay for men and women.

Anne Milton: Paying men and women unequally for the same work has been unlawful for nearly 50 years. Where an employer is found to have breached equal pay law, an employment tribunal can order them to produce an equal pay audit. Our requirement for all larger employers to publish their gender pay gap will help increase transparency of all the factors underlying the endemic differences in pay between men and women.

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Mr Philip Hollobone: If she will reinstate the role of Disability Commissioner on the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Nick Gibb: The roles and responsibilities given to Board members of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are matters for the Commission itself. The Government has no powers to reinstate the EHRC’s Disability Commissioner role.

Autumn Budget 2017: Equality

Wes Streeting: Whether the Government has undertaken an equality impact assessment of the Autumn Budget 2017.

Nick Gibb: All departments, including the Treasury, carefully consider the equality impacts of individual policy decisions taken on those with protected characteristics - in line with both its legal obligations and its strong commitment to equality issues. When working on policy, including measures announced at the Autumn Budget 2017, ministers are advised of the impact a decision has on protected groups, and this is taken into account when a policy decision is made. The Autumn Budget includes many announcements that will benefit protected groups, including increases to the National Living Wage and the income tax personal allowance.